Living in the Past
Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
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Title: LIVING IN THE PAST
Author: ulyferal
Rating: K+
Warnings: Profanity and some violence.
Disclaimer: “SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron,” its characters and concepts are copyright to Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc and are used without permission.
Chapter 13: Storming the Castle
As the troop approached the village, by way of the forest so they could remain hidden from the castle guards, they had reduced their gallop to a walk so as to make as little noise as possible. When they reached the high hedge that protected the village, a small detachment split off from the main force.
Using the village to hide their movements, this group split again with one group going to hunt down the ten guards patrolling the village, while the other group, all archers, had the task of surrounding the castle and waiting for the signal to begin their attack on the wall and tower guards with well aimed arrows.
The Queen and the rest of her army continued on to the main gate. Those villagers still out and about doing evening chores gasped in fear but didn’t alert the castle soldiers. Instead, they hurriedly gathered their animals into pens, crude barns, or into their homes then hustled their families indoors so that by the time the troop passed through the village proper, nothing moved.
As soon as the edge of the village ended and the verge before the castle gate was before them, they halted. The SWAT Kats and the archers attached to their team began to fire their S and M bombs over the walls and into the courtyard. Within minutes, the sounds of coughing and choking could be heard, and, shortly after that, wisps of the deadly gases could be seen rising above the battlements. That was the signal for the archers surrounding the castle to fire their deadly barrage of arrows at the guards.
On the heels of the gas attack, roars of fury could be heard from the throats of very large creatures accompanied by loud thuds of something pounding against wood.
“Sounds like the trolls are either mad at being locked in or they’re getting a nose full of gas,” Razor shouted to the Queen over the ruckus.
She nodded distractedly while waiting for her moment to blow the gates open.
“I hope thee be right, Sir Razor. Twill make our task easier,” the Queen shouted back while keeping her horse from shying from the gas. “Phaw! Tis a foul reek!” She grimaced in disgust.
“Yeah, it is at that,” T-Bone coughed.
Everyone around them were making gagging and choking sounds as the wind brought a small amount of the gas down on them.
“Breath shallowly!” Razor shouted at everyone. “The wind will blow it off in just a few minutes.” All did as he commanded while working hard to keep their horses from bolting.
A loud boom warned them the trolls had finally broken free, howling their pain and anger to the heavens, and still the gates hadn’t come down. Sudden screams to the rear of the Queen’s army made the leaders turn their head in consternation. The gargoyles had awakened and had made an immediate strafing run on the knights. However, before any of them could be hauled into the air, T-Bone and Razor used their meager stores of modern weapons to blast some of the pests into dust while a few of the knights were lucky enough to take out others with heavy wood cudgels they brought for this occasion.
The battle lasted no longer than five minutes. Which was a good thing as the gates finally opened, and two trolls came barreling out, but they were ready for them. Though the ropes had been wrapped around nearby trees, the beefy soldiers holding them were still nearly yanked off their feet. However, before they lost it, the rope did succeed in tripping the big behemoths off their feet, sending them face first into the ground with a thunderous boom, making the ground shudder.
Two brave soldiers rushed forward and slammed a mustard pod apiece into the faces of the trolls then ran away before being affected by it themselves. The trolls screamed, coughed, and choked. Sitting up, they clawed at their eyes then tried to get up but couldn’t as they were too incapacitated.
Razor yelled, “We need to get inside before the dragons escape!”
“KNIGHTS ATTACK!” Queen Callista shouted, kicking her horse into a gallop and veering around the trolls, her amulet raised high to ward off any spells that might be sent their way.
Her knights shouted as one voice and charged after her, but they only got as far as the small stable inside the keep when the other two trolls charged them, eyes red from the gas. Moving out of the way, the Queen let Razor and T-Bone fire off two flare missiles right into trolls’ faces.
Blinded, the two bellowed and staggered around in pain as they rubbed at their eyes. Stomping around, they ended up stepping on some of the Pastmaster’s soldiers, making messy smears of them before stumbling into their fellow trolls still sitting on the ground. Their roaring deafened allies, but the results were perfect as the four trolls proceeded to beat the crap out of each other, helpfully rolling through the gates and outside. Now they were out of the way.
The SWAT Kats, Feral, Felina, and a small special force of the Queen’s kept close to Callista as they rode across the courtyard making for the doors of the main hall. A small rear detachment of knights split off for the small stable they’d moved away from.
Slipping inside, it was a matter of moments, after reassuring the future Kats they were from the Queen, the twenty survivors hurried after the knights, who took them out of the castle and hid them behind the hedge. Telling the huddled group to stay hidden until the battle was over, the knights returned to the battle.
When they ran back into the keep, they saw bright green flashes being shot into the air from a tightly packed group fighting in front of the main hall doors. It could only be the Queen fighting off some kind of magical attack.
Callista wasn’t alone, though; her team surrounded her. Feral stood at her back, keeping two hefty soldiers from attacking her. They’d missed being gassed as they were the ones from inside. Using his sword and fist, Feral managed to dispatch his targets fairly quickly then was able to take a moment to look around for whoever it was battling the Queen. He spotted some skinny Kat in a fancy robe, waving his arms around and casting lightning bolts at Callista from a balcony. Pulling a short knife from his tattered uniform, he threw it with deadly accuracy, the blade slamming into the wizard’s chest. The body fell to the courtyard. The Queen gave him a grim smile of gratitude then turned her attention to a new attack from in front of her.
Flames suddenly poured down, forcing the Queen’s army to run for cover. Feral and Razor pulled the Queen out of danger and stared in dismay. The dragons were free and attacking.
Using their missile launchers in their glovatrixes, the SWAT Kats, along with a few archers, fired the special F bombs into the mouths of the dragons as the creatures strafed the courtyard. Those that managed to reach their targets caused a surprising reaction.
The dragons screamed and tried to fly away but blew up before they could get far. With that boost to their spirits, they kept firing until they’d taken out all the dragons.
Unfortunately, more soldiers began pouring out from the castle, though there were far less than before.
“Take over, Sir Gregory!” Callista ordered. “Time for us to take out the Pastmaster.”
Without out a word, her second in command took over the battle while Callista pushed her way with her vanguard into the main hall.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
The Pastmaster had been totally focused on the final details of the preparation for the spell casting for later that night. It was frustrating having to rely on such dismal help as he had to constantly repeat instructions and even follow up on his orders, which wasted valuable time and made him even more sharp tempered than usual. However, as dusk began to fall, he was finally satisfied that all the preparations were complete. Now all he needed to do was to initiate the first steps of the spell before bringing Ms. Briggs down.
Things were going well and he’d just spoke the final word of the set up spell when all hell broke out. First, there were screams and violent coughing followed by the roars of his trolls. Frowning in annoyance, the Pastmaster muttered the last word he needed to say then added a protective spell to hold the casting until he got back to it.
Thus free, he left his two low level wizard assistants guarding the pool while he went to investigate the reason for the racket.
Stepping outside his workroom, he was immediately accosted by one of his officers.
“Sire! We are under attack. Strange pods were hurled over the walls releasing strange choking gases. The parapet guards have been killed and the trolls incapacitated!” he said excitedly.
“The Queen?”
“I don’t know, sire…”
“Out of my way, fool!” The Pastmaster growled angrily as he pushed past his officer and hurried to the main door. He’d opened it just as the gates to the keep swung open courtesy of his very stupid trolls. Outside, he could see an army waiting to charge in and, standing framed by the entryway, were his enemies, Queen Callista, the annoying SWAT Kats and those infernal Enforcers.
Cursing viciously, the Pastmaster made a quick decision. Grabbing the officer still behind him, he snapped, “Keep them out of here. I don’t care what it takes; don’t allow them inside the hall.”
“Y-y-yes sire,” the poor officer said shakily as he ran outside.
Slamming the doors then barring them, the Pastmaster muttered a quick spell using his watch to make the doors even harder to break through. Satisfied, he stalked off toward his work room. Once inside, he barked orders. “Bring the prisoner down here. Beware, insure she is tied up first. I don’t want anymore problems.”
His two assistants hurried off to do his bidding.
While they were gone, the Pastmaster paced the secret courtyard and muttered angrily to himself. He eyed the sky but could see it was a long way yet from high moon. He had to insure no one stopped him this time from attaining his dream of ruling this time period. He felt certain his forces would be able to hold off those meddling future Kats. As for the Queen, she was nowhere near as powerful as himself. Still, he was worried.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Since most of the soldiers had already gone out into the courtyard to fight her people, there was no one in the hall to greet them. Smiling with feral pleasure, the Queen lead her group into the hall, keeping a sharp eye for the Pastmaster and any of his other mages as they made their way toward the hidden door.
While Feral yanked the tapestry away, T-Bone reached for the heavy door lever and tried to pull it but was immediately repulsed by the Pastmaster’s spell that sent him flying some distance across the main hall floor.
Razor raised his glovatrix to fire when Callista brought her paw down on his arm. He gaped at her in surprise.
“It’s a spell, Sir Razor. Your weapon won’t work on it,” she said quietly as she began to study the spell involved.
Razor flushed in embarrassment, but stepped aside and waited. Feral kept the tapestry back and waited warily. T-Bone had gotten to his feet and shook himself out. Pissed at himself for forgetting the Pastmaster would have seen fit to booby trap the door, he chose to stand guard protecting the rear of the group rather than get close to the door again.
It took Callista some five minutes to ‘break’ the spell. Meanwhile, outside, the noises of battle began to quiet. Feral hoped it meant their side had won.
A muffled shout drew their attention to a balcony over their heads. It was Ms. Briggs and she was being dragged along by two robe wearing kats. It didn’t take any of them long to realize what the two were up to. The SWAT Kats wanted to charge up to rescue her but remembered just in time that their job was to take out the Pastmaster.
So, they reluctantly remained where they were while four of the Queen’s guards split off and charged up the far staircase to intercept the pair hurriedly making for a different path to get the she-kat to their master.
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